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Sea Copse Hill, Now Known As Beechcroft 1924

With the help of County Records office we have located details and map associated with the auction of this house and land circ 1924. We believe the house referred too is now known as Beechcroft just off Palmers Road, Wootton but the land has been sold for housing.

We have reproduced herewith a copy of a survey carried around 8th June 1924 by estate agents Wallis, Riddett & Co., 8 High Street, Newport for The Governors, The Royal Waterloo Hospital, Waterloo Road, London, S.E.1.

8th June 1923

Gentlemen,

Sea Copse Hill

Beechcroft

In accordance with your instructions we have inspected this property with a view to advising you generally as to its disposal.

The property lies on high ground in the Parish of Whippingham in the Isle of Wight Rural District about midway between the towns of Ryde and Newport, Isle of Wight and occupies a corner position adjoining a side road a short distance from the main highroad between those two towns: the road on which it is situated leads to Cowes which is about three miles distant and Wootton Railway station is about half a mile away.

It consist of the residence with pleasure grounds, shrubberies and kitchen gardens, stabling, Cottages and Garage and about four and a half acres of meadow land and has in all an area of 8 acres, 2 rods and 28 perches.

The residence is well built of brick with a tiled roof and is nicely designed: it faces east and is approached from the side road referred to above by a carriage drive. The accommodation is arranged on to floors as follows:

Ground floor

Entrance hall; 15ft square; Dinning room 30ft by 14ft, this opens on to a large veranda off which is a W.C.
Drawing room; 28ft by 16ft with a large semi-circular bay window opening onto another veranda.
Morning room; 18ft by 15ft with semi circular window.
Kitchen; Butler’s pantry [hot and cold].
Scullery; [hot and cold] with copper and small range.
Larder, Store cupboard, Coal and boot cellars, Servant’s W.C. Coal store etc.

First floor [which is approached by a principal and secondary staircase].

Five best bedrooms, three of which measure respectively 28t by 15ft; 19ft by 14ft and 18ft by 15ft.
Dressing room.
Two servant’s bedrooms.
Two bathrooms [hot and cold], one with lavatory basin [hot and cold], heated linen cupboard and a W.C.
There is a tank in the box room in the roof.

The house has central heating, with radiators in the reception rooms and principal bedrooms; the sanitary arrangements are modern with the drainage connected to the main sewer. Water is supplied from the company’s mains, electric bells are fitted but there is no system of lighting.

The pleasure grounds comprise about two acres and are laid out with lawns and flowerbeds with well-grown shrubberies.

On the South side of the house is kitchen garden with fruit trees, greenhouse and vinery together with a potting and tool shed.

At the North West corner of the property and approached by a separate entrance there is stabling and a cottage combined, these are built of brick with a tiled roof, the whole comprising of:- stall and loose box, harness room, coach house, kitchen, scullery and W.C. with two bedrooms in the cottage Close by is a large motor house with a loft above. In this part of the grounds there is a second and smaller kitchen garden.

The whole plot of land abuts upon two roads from both of which it is well screened by a belt of firs and evergreens.

With the exception of the meadow land the whole property is in hand, being used as a convalescent home in connection with the Royal Waterloo Hospital.

Note: The hospital, which opened in 1823 for children and women, was closed in 1936, but was reopened during the Second World War. The Schiller International University now occupies the building.

The meadowland is let by the year and brings in a rent of £20 a year, the tenant paying the rates.

The property has been well maintained and on the whole is in good repair. The outside painting of he main residence has, however not been done for about seven years and is urgently required. We estimate the cost of doing this work to be £75 to £80.

Sea Copse Hill is a residential property of good class. There are several other good residences in the same neighbourhood but three of these, besides Sea Copse Hill, are in the market at the present time, and properties of this class are not very saleable. We have carefully considered whether a sale might more easily be effected by dividing the property into two or more lots, but are of the opinion that the disposal of any portion of the land, with the prospect of building being erected upon it, would so depreciate the value of the remainder from the point of view that any division would be very undesirable. We consider that the property should be offered as a whole and that it does not possess any additional value as building land.

The gross assessment of the property in hand amounts to £106 and adding to this the rental value of the meadow land, £20, gives a total annual value of £126, but we consider that if let as a whole the property should command a rent of £170 a year, the landlord being responsible for the outside repairs.
It is freehold, but subject to payment of tithe rent charge amounting for the current year to £2.0.6.

The subsoil is gravel and in the immediate neighbourhood a considerable quantity is dug, but we consider that no additional market value can be attached to Sea Copse Hill on this account. Any working of gravel on the property either now or in the future would only depreciate it from the residential point of view. The trees upon the property are of a purely ornamental character and there is no timber of marketable quality.

We are of the opinion that the present market value of the fee simple is £2900 [two thousand nine hundred pounds] and that it is unlikely to increase in the near future. We consider the best way of securing a purchaser would be by offering the property for sale by auction in one lot. Even if such a sale were unsuccessful at the time, the wide advertisement, which such a course would secure, would most probably produce a purchaser shortly afterwards.

In the immediate neighbourhood of Sea Copse Hill, on the road by which it is approached from the main highroad there have been erected several small buildings of the bungalow type. The presence of these buildings detracts somewhat from the amenities of the neighbourhood as a first class residential district and if they should increase in number, as seems likely, considerable depreciation might take place in the value of Sea Copse Hill. On this account we consider that Sea Copse Hill should be disposed of without delay.